Halo:Taking The Step
Prologue Should he take the step ? He'd gotten so far, in such a small amount of time, a gargantuan amount of effort could pay off, if he just took a single step. But should he ? Did his heart tell him too ? He wasn't sure. He was tired, bloody, confused, and alone. He had to do this to end it all, but he was too afraid. No, not afraid. Cautious. "Just take the step." he kept telling himself, "It'll be fine, it'll all be over if you just take the step." He still couldn't do it. He had been asking himself why he wouldn't be able to do it, since he was first told of his particular assignment. He had fought to get here, and yet, no matter how many times he'd uttered the above phrase to himself, he would hesitate, and step back. "You always were a failure." His fathers words echoed in his mind, causing him to grab at his skull. "No ! Go away ! Just leave me alone." He fell to his knee's, still one step away from completion, while the same phrase continued to torment his mind. "If your not a failure, then just take the step." "Fuck off Dad !" He started pummeling his head with his fists, but the voice got louder and louder, until he was almost paralyzed. "Just take the step..." Act 1: Snowblind Noah drove down the street, early morning driving alwayss seemed easiest when everyone else was either passed out at home, or just now getting in their cars. "Ain't No Rest For The Wicked" was blaring in his ears, the music player on half volume, but with the deathly silence it was amplified. Pulling up to the police station, Noah stepped from his car and walked to the sliding doors, relieving his night post upon entry. His job: manning the front desk, such a great thing. He sat down and began filing everything the dumbass intern from last night forgot, ignoring everyone's petty remarks and insults about how he's always here earliest. They called him anal; he called it efficiency. When he was done, he sat back and listened to his music, ignoring everyone else like always. His country was one of low crime, so very few calls ever arrived calling for police backup. Which meant he was free to do whatever the hell he wanted for the rest of the day, like listen to music, shoot papers into the trash, and steal donuts from the rec room. Everything was fine, til the phone rang. Everyone looked at his desk, they hadn't gotten a call in almost a year. "911 emergency ?" "There's some kind of animal in here and---" It cut off. Noah quickly traced the call, and shouted out the address. It seemed like everyone stormed out the front doors, and the mass rumbling of police sirens and engines zoomed down the highway. Sighing, Noah sat back, slightly happy he had done his job (for once), but angry for many reasons. He couldn't go with them. He never passed the police exam, every year he had only ranked second. It ticked him off bigtime.